culture

Former GOP congressman Allen West reached a new low when he attacked prominent Democrats for failing to speak out against three black Florida teens accused of beating up a white kid, Gregory Kane writes at BlackAmericaWeb.com. What has West in high dudgeon is the incident in which three black teens attacked a 13-year-old white boy on a…

Robin Thicke’s team reportedly made Marvin Gaye’s family a six-figure offer in an effort to avert a nasty copyright-infringement battle, but the family rejected it, Billboard reports. According to sources knowledgeable with the lawsuit, the settlement offer came after Frankie Christian Gaye, Marvin Gaye III and Nona Marvisa Gaye accused Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” hit single…

Calling it “questionable” that George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed uncertainty about whether the case would have lasting power in the public’s mind, the Associated Press reports. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Powell said cases like Martin’s “blaze across the midnight sky”…

Tens of thousands of people came to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Saturday to observe the 50th anniversary of the famous march, the Associated Press reports. Speakers called for marchers to continue fighting for King’s dream, saying it includes equality for gays, Hispanics, the poor and disabled. The event was an homage to…

(The Root) — Aug. 25 marks the 15th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, arguably one of the most important albums of the hip-hop generation. The album was so resounding and influential that it is still cited by many artists as the greatest release this side of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Hill’s first album —…

Because music executives have little faith in the profitability of female solo artists, women, who were once a dominant force in hip-hop, have become almost completely invisible in the industry today, Feminista Jones writes at Salon. But who are the notable women in mainstream hip-hop today? There is Nicki Minaj who, while often charismatic and…

Leonard Pitts Jr., at the Miami Herald, asks pointed questions about race in America as the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. “What have you chosen not to see?” he asks. “What will you do to make it right?” This is “tomorrow.” Meaning that unknowable future whose unknowable difficulties Martin Luther…

In a piece at Salon, Alex Seitz-Wald explains why the white conservative media are wrong about Chris Lane being “Trayvon Martin in reverse.” First, the police weren’t forced to arrest anyone after Lane’s grisly shooting death. It’s incredible that in 2013 we’re really arguing about this, but from Henry Louis Gates [Jr.] to Travyon Martin…

(The Root) — It is difficult to imagine yourself living in a different chapter of history, but I tried this morning while walking among the waves of people on the National Mall. I hummed to myself the spirituals and protest songs I remembered hearing people sing in grainy black-and-white footage from the ’50s and ’60s:…